The invention relates to the display of web pages. More particularly, the invention provides a method and system for viewing web pages on a small screen device using a keypad for navigation.
Web pages are typically designed for display on conventional computer monitors (RGB, LCD, and the like) that range in size from 14xe2x80x3 to 21xe2x80x3 and higher. These conventional computer monitors generally provide screen resolutions of 600xc3x97400 and up, with most users setting their monitors to a resolution of 800xc3x97600 or 1024xc3x97768.
A problem arises when these web pages are displayed on devices with screens smaller than the web page""s resolution, such as on a mobile telephone, personal digital assistant (PDA), or some other communications and/or computing device with a small screen. Due to the small size of the screen, a web page generally must either be shrunk down to fit the entire page on the smaller screen, or scroll bars must be used to move around the page. However, text and graphics may be lost or unreadable when the web page is shrunk to such a size that it would fit on the smaller screen, and manipulating scroll bars on a small screen is often difficult and creates user frustration.
One known way of dividing a web page into smaller units is by using frames, as are known in the art, that have been predefined within the web page. Each frame within a web page behaves similar to individual windows in that scrolling up and down or left and right within the frame does not scroll the content in other frames within the same web page. Frames have not been used to reduce the size of a web page for viewing on small screen devices.
Another known way of dividing a web page into smaller units is by using tables, also known in the art. Tables have not be used to reduce the size of a web page for viewing on small screen devices.
One method of preparing web pages for viewing on small screen devices is known as xe2x80x9cweb clipping,xe2x80x9d developed by Palm, Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif. Web clipping has been analogized to clipping relevant articles out of a newspaper such that a user only receives relevant information. Web clipping uses a query (a Palm query application, or PQA), to retrieve specific information meeting predefined criteria from the Internet, and transmits the retrieved data to the user""s handheld device. Web clipping, however, prohibits the user from receiving information that may otherwise be retrieved if the user views entire web pages instead of xe2x80x9cclippedxe2x80x9d web pages.
In recent years services have begun offering web page content specifically designed for small screen devices, such as PDAs. These web pages generally have smaller sizes, demand less screen color and resolution capabilities, and are not graphic intensive. AVANTGO, by AvantGo, Inc. of Hayward, Calif., is an example of such a service.
While these smaller web pages are easier to display on small screen devices, there is still a problem navigating around these web pages on small screen devices. While PDAs typically allow a user to navigate in a point-and-click fashion using a stylus, other small screen devices, such as mobile telephones, typically do not offer such a feature. Instead, they rely on awkward and non-intuitive keystrokes on a keypad to navigate through a web page and its associated links. Another problem is that these web pages typically do not include as much information as a more conventionally sized web page.
Some mobile telephones offer mini-browser applications with which users can navigate web pages. However, current implementations do not support switching between different sections of a web page, nor do current implementations support visualization of different sections of a web page. Thus, presently known mini-browsers do not optimize web page navigation capabilities on small screen devices
Thus, it would be an advancement in the art to develop an improved method and system that can display a web page on a small screen device, and allow a user to logically navigate the web page and its associated links.
It would also be an advancement in the art to develop an improved method and system that can be used for navigating web pages on small screen devices that rely on a keypad for navigation.
In a first embodiment of the invention, there is a method for displaying a web page that has been divided into sections, where each section is associated with at least one of a plurality of selectable labels. The method includes receiving user input corresponding to a selected label, and displaying on a screen the section of the web page associated with the selected label.
In a second embodiment of the invention, there is a mobile terminal for displaying web pages. The mobile terminal includes a display, a keypad, a processor, and a memory for storing computer readable instruction that, when executed by the processor, cause the device to perform a set of steps. The mobile terminal receives user input corresponding to a selected label, and displays on the screen a section of the web page associated with the selected label, where the web page has been divided into sections and each section has been associated with at least one of a plurality of labels.
In a third embodiment, there is a mobile terminal that has a display, a keypad, a processor, and a memory for storing computer readable instruction that, when executed by the processor, cause the device to perform a set of steps. The mobile terminal stores in the memory a web page that has been divided into sections, and stores association information in the memory. The association information includes an association of each section of the web page with at least one corresponding key on the keypad. The mobile terminal displays a mapping screen on the display, and receives user input corresponding to a selected key on the keypad. In response to receiving the user input, the mobile terminal displays on the display a section of the web page associated with the selected key.
In a fourth embodiment of the invention, there is a method for displaying web pages on a device, including the steps of storing in a memory a web page, wherein the web page has been divided into sections; storing association information in the memory, wherein the information includes an association of each section of the web page with at least one corresponding key on the keypad; displaying a mapping screen on a display; receiving user input corresponding to a selected key; and displaying on the display a section of the web page associated with the selected key.
In some embodiments, the labels may be icons displayed on the screen.
In other embodiments, the labels may be keys on a device keypad.